What is the best stairway for a busy office?
A new study suggests a new way to narrow the gap between the ideal office and the one that actually exists.
Researchers from the University of Texas found that the most productive stairways to reach the top of a staircase have the most steps and the least number of steps.
They compared the average stairway height between different office spaces and found the average height of the stairways was 20 feet.
The study, published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, compared the number of stairs required to reach a top of the stairs to the number and width of steps required to climb the stairs.
In this case, the researchers found that a single stairway with 20 feet of steps would require 4.5 stair steps, while a two-level stairway that had the same height would require 3.5 stairs.
To reach the other side of the office, the average number of stair steps needed to climb each level was 7.7.
The researchers also found that one-level stairs are much more likely to be found on tall buildings with more stairs than a two or three-level staircase.